From Campus Trash To Tycoon

Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Lina lowered her phone and exhaled softly. “He says he is on his way,” she said, slipping the device back into her purse.

Immediate looks flashed around the table.

“You sound relieved,” her cousin Erica teased. A mesmerizing smile lit up her sharp features. Erica really did win the genetic lottery. She inherited those striking looks from the caucasian side of their shared grandfather’s lineage.

Lina smiled faintly. “I am. He is never late. Even with his part-time business, he wouldn't disappoint me like this.” Still, an uneasy ache settled in her chest. Something was entirely off.

Her words only fueled the surrounding curiosity.

The long mahogany table took up most of the private lounge her parents reserved for the night. The room felt warm, filled with soft lighting and quiet music. Everything about the space screamed immense, effortless wealth.

Erica leaned forward, a flirty smile on her lips. “So, this Adrian. You talk about him like he is some kind of genius.”

Lina laughed lightly. “Because he is. We grew up together. He always acted like that—quiet, focused, hardworking, and always three steps ahead of everyone else.”

Erica’s brow furrowed as she crossed her legs. “But you said he is a scholarship student.”

“He is,” Lina replied, her voice firming up. “And he earned every bit of it. He refused financial help from my family so many times. I even tried to give him a premium position in my father's firm. He turned it down.”

“That is rare,” one of the college girls at the table said, keeping her voice sweet so she did not openly cross Lina. “Most people would crawl through broken glass for your family's recommendation. I guess some people just prefer to be proud and broke.”

“He’s not most people.” Lina beamed, then let out a sigh. “And it's actually annoying.”

A wave of laughter rippled through the group. “He's lazy then…”

“He is not lazy, he helped me with all my major projects,” Lina continued. “He tutored me when I fell behind, helped me prep for competitions. He never made me feel stupid for asking, either.”

“Wait. Is he single?” Another girl straightened up, her eyes gleaming.

Lina blinked. “Yes.”

The girl pulled out an earpod. “Then link us up.”

Lina raised an eyebrow. “You are serious?”

“Why not?” the girl replied. “You said it yourself. He is smart, loyal, and you two are just friends. I need someone with an actual brain, not just a bloated trust fund.”

Lina grinned. “I think you would like him.”

Lina's eyes beamed towards her cousin and her closest friend Erica. They grew up together, cheered together, and shared the same powerful grandfather. Erica had incredibly high tastes. That was exactly why Lina secretly picked Adrian—a responsible, brilliant senior—as the only man smart enough to match Erica’s sharp wit. But Adrian was poor. While Erica had everything, Adrian struggled to pay for rent and food every month. The other girls squealing about a setup were just campus colleagues. They didn't know much about Adrian either.

Heavy movement at the entrance cut off the conversation.

The lounge door swung open. A group of boys walked into the private room, loud and overconfident, instantly ruining the mood. Lina's smile vanished.

Lukas Leonardo. The arrogant bastard who insulted Adrian and treated him like a servant at his house party. The exact same group who paid Adrian to serve drinks the previous night—the night everything fell apart.

Lukas spotted Lina and marched toward the long table. “Happy birthday,” he said smoothly, scanning the private room. “I didn't know the Andrew family was doing something so... intimate.”

Lina sneered, her eyes flashing. “What do you want, Lukas? I don’t remember typing your name on the guest list.”

Lukas let out a loud chuckle, playing innocent. “Ever so hot-headed, Lina. I was just making your friend earn his spot yesterday. I never imagined something naughty would go on between the two of them that night.”

Lina rolled her eyes. She knew Lukas made it up on the spot. But since it was her birthday, he was smart enough to bring an expensive gift box along, and his wealthy friends did the same. To the other girls at the table, it suddenly felt like a standard dorm mixer party.

One of Lukas's friends glanced around the lounge with a smirk. “So, where is your scholarship pet? Or is he too embarrassed to stand before us?”

Lina’s expression turned to ice. “Watch how you speak in my room.”

“Relax,” another boy chimed in, laughing. “We’re just curious. Why are you taking the side of an errand boy?”

“Because he deserves respect,” Lina countered coolly. “More than most of you combined.”

The girl who just asked for an introduction shifted uncomfortably. “Is this the same Adrian you wanted to introduce me to?” she asked slowly, her voice dropping. “Maybe linking him up is a bad idea. He sounds complicated.”

Lina turned her head sharply. “Complicated how?”

The girl shrugged, crossing her arms bluntly. “Poor. Let us be honest. Why would you set your friends up with someone like that? You were initially suggesting him to Erica.”

Erica pulled out her remaining ear pod and moved closer to the center of the table. Her nose wrinkled in pure disgust. “Is that the extent to which you have downgraded my worth, Lina? To a scholarship rat?”

Lukas burst into a wild laugh. Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes as he recalled the party. “Erica, you have no idea! This loser feeds off the scraps I offer him! Yesterday, I had him serving drinks like the dog he is!”

Lina snapped. “Enough! If that is how you think, get out! I won't have you mocking Adrian over a few bank notes!”

Lukas scoffed, waving his hand. “He’s a trash bag, Lina. A college errand boy who sells his dignity for a bowl of noodles. Let it slide.”

The other girl scoffed along. “So now you are offended? Over a college errand boy? I recall seeing a viral video from Lukas' party, I wonder if it's the same Adrian.”

The room quieted down, the atmosphere turning suffocatingly tense. Lina’s face went pale. The humiliation from yesterday leaked right into her private party and blindsided her completely. She wanted to skin Lukas alive. Nothing good ever came out of his mouth.

“Come on, Lina, it's your birthday,” Lukas said with a wide grin. “We are all here to celebrate, not mourn. Cheer up.”

A gentle knock sounded against the door. It swung open, and Adrian stepped inside.

The entire room paused. The heavy weight of attention hit Adrian the moment he crossed the threshold. It had absolutely nothing to do with admiration.

He was dressed simply, in clean lines. Calm posture. Nothing loud. Nothing begging for attention.

He smiled the moment he spotted Lina. “Happy birthday,” he said, his voice smooth and steady.

Lina’s deep irritation melted instantly. “You made it.”

“I would not miss your birthday,” Adrian replied.

Adrian greeted the others politely, nodding even toward Lukas. Lukas’s face twisted in sharp irritation the moment Adrian ignored his stare and took a seat right beside Lina.

In the past, the suffocating weight of their judgment might have bothered Adrian. But with his family’s true multi-billion-dollar empire now backing his account, their petty insults felt like the distant buzzing of flies.

“Adrian, this is the friend I mentioned,” Lina said, attempting to break the ice by gesturing to the girl who wanted an introduction.

Adrian reached out his hand politely. “Nice to meet you.”

The girl glanced at his open palm as if it were covered in street dirt, then deliberately looked away. “Likewise,” she said, her tone icy and distant.

Adrian didn't react. He simply withdrew his hand, his expression remaining completely unbothered.

The gift unboxing began shortly after. The long mahogany table was soon buried under a mounting pile of gold and silver boxes. Hermes bags, diamond-encrusted accessories, luxury watches, and high-end jewelry stacked upon each other. Gasps followed every reveal, each gift displaying a price tag more expensive than the last as the guests lined up to show off their wealth.

Lina thanked everyone graciously. She held off on opening the items, adhering to the custom where everyone submitted their offerings first. As the final event on the menu, she would unwrap them all at once so the room could applaud the gesture.

Lina stood up to grab a glass of pineapple juice for Adrian. Her eyes narrowed as she noticed Lukas staring at him. He looked like a predator sizing up its prey.

“Well, well,” Lukas said, his voice cutting cleanly through the quiet chatter. He stood near the entrance, his eyes fixed on Adrian’s face.

The entire room stiffened but Lukas smiled thinly, addressing Adrian for the first time since the night before. “Did not expect to see you here.”

Adrian looked up calmly, matching his stare without a single trace of fear. “It is Lina’s birthday. You don’t expect me to cower at your feet.”

Lukas's gaze flicked instantly to the small bag resting beside Adrian’s chair. He let out a soft, mocking laugh. “Cower at my feet? Come on, we’re past that. Is that your gift?”

The room fell dead silent.

Lukas’s eyes gleamed with something sharp and malicious. “I am curious.”

He stepped closer to the table, intentionally moving to humiliate Adrian in front of the girls. The campus colleagues leaned in on their elbows, their faces filled with a cruel, mocking curiosity.

“What kind of cheap, pathetic gift did you find in the trash for Lina?”